Several years back Tal Ben-Shahar taught a course on Positive Psychology at Harvard, which became, at least for a while, the most popular course at the university. About the course NPR wrote: “Twice a week, some 900 students attend Tal Ben-Shahar’s class on what he calls ‘how to get happy.’ … His class offers research from the relatively new field of positive psychology, which focuses on what makes people happy, rather than just their pathologies.”
Available in an admittedly grainy format, you can watch the 30 lectures from that course above, or over on YouTube. According to the original syllabus, topics discussed include “happiness, self-esteem, empathy, friendship, love, achievement, creativity, music, spirituality, and humor.”
If you’re interested in delving deeper into Positive Psychology, we’d recommend Tal Ben-Shahar’s books: Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment and Short Cuts to Happiness: Life-Changing Lessons from My Barber. The same goes for reading the works of Martin Seligman, the University of Pennsylvania professor who effectively invented the field. You can also take free courses on Positive Psychology. Just head over to our collection of Free Psychology Courses, a subset of our meta collection, 1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities.
If you would like to sign up for Open Culture’s free email newsletter, please find it here.
If you would like to support the mission of Open Culture, consider making a donation to our site. It’s hard to rely 100% on ads, and your contributions will help us continue providing the best free cultural and educational materials to learners everywhere. You can contribute through PayPal, Patreon, Venmo (@openculture) and Crypto. Thanks!
Related Content:
Introduction to Psychology: A Free Course from Yale University
A Crash Course on Psychology: A 30-Part Video Series from Hank Green
All You Need is Love: The Keys to Happiness Revealed by a 75-Year Harvard Study
How can I be happy without episode 15?
Focus on what’s working :)